All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Matt Castillo It has its ups and downs and is not for everyone. I have been doing it for the past year and now realize how risky it is. My properties are fine and well managed now but it took some bumps in the road to get there. It's easy for people to take advantage of you as an out of state investor. If you do decide to give it a shot let me know if I can help. Good Luck.

Andrey Y. I had this same kind of BS happen to me. A turnkey guy recommended his lender to me and said "he can do things other lenders can't". I was trying to do a cash out refinance and looked into this before I even bought the property all cash. I went ahead and bought the property all cash with plans to refinance it the very next day. He said it would take about 2-3 weeks. He was very convincing. This turned into 3 months and then he said the guidelines changed and he can no longer do it. Totally messed up my entire plan. To make things worse that property the turnkey guy sold me turned out to be a dud and had horrible tenants that destroyed the place. Lenders will tell you everything you want to hear to get you to fill out the application and pull your credit report. Then the question is can they actual pull off the close and do they actually know what they are doing. Moving forward I have found a great lender that I am loyal too. He gets me great rates, smooth transactions, and teaches me the latest guidelines as they change. I am good to him and he is good to me. Best advice I can give anyone is make sure you find an experienced investor friendly lender, and talk to other investors who have used them. PM me if anyone is interested in knowing who I use.

I get this all the time as well. But yet they have no answer when I ask them "what are you doing with your money?" Or "what is your money doing for you?" The usually answer is "nothing". It's like Kioysaki says these are the people on the left side of his little square. I think it's employment and self employed. If you want to be successful you have to be on the right side which is "big buissness" and "INVESTOR". We are on the right side of the box and are trying to better ourselves. Those "naysayers" will forever be stuck on the left side unless they change their way of thinking. People who can think outside the box are more likely to be successful.

Steve G. I am a young new investor and live in San Jose. I would love to invest close to home but don't have the hard cash to get into something in the Bay Area as everything is to expensive for me. I simply can not afford the downpayment and they will not cash flow enough for me. Most scenarios I run for the bay area shows no cash flow. If I could I would invest here for appreciation but then again I am worried prices may drop soon as they have skyrocketed like crazy over the past 2 years. All that said I invest out of state in Indianapolis and Birmingham where you can get a cash flowing property for around $10k down financed and cash flow $150-200/month. It's risky and takes select people to partner with as your boots on the ground but can be done. It's just not as easy as people think.

John Hodson the guy who says he got 4.35 above paid 25% down and not %20. If you talk to your current lender he can probably offer you that same rate for 25% down or close to it. Like mentioned above make sure you compare the exact same scenarios including that it's a duplex as well. Also make sure you are not paying any points to get that rate as this can trick you into thinking you are getting a better rate.

Dan P. I have been looking around for this kind of information as well. My conclusion is its very difficult to find quality homes in or around the bay that will cash flow. But you may be able to find something that will break even or cost you a few hundred a month and then cash in on the appreciation in a few years. Or the bubble bursts and you lose everything. It's definitely a gamble. I am new to all this but keeping it simple and seeing how high all the homes have increased over the past few years makes me think it's just a matter of time before they start to drop. I have been reading a lot about the cycle of a bubble a burst market and seems like we may be peaking or close to the peak of the cycle before prices start to drop again. History proves this. And let's face it our countries economy is still in trouble. (Well your country...I'm Canadian). I tried to play the appreciation game in markets like the bay a failed miserably after the 2006 crash. Made me rethink my strategy and get into a more linear market with less risk for depreciation and a slow steady cash flow. It hasn't been easy but things have generally been ok for me over the past year. I am still interested in investing for appreciation and have a little reserve set aside to get something in or around the bay if a big crash happens again. This will diversify my portfolio even more. But untill it crashes I will continue to invest in Indianapolis and Birmingham where the numbers make sense.

Randy E. Tell them to take a bath once in a while. :)

@Mike E. Don't feel bad. We all made mistakes and learn from them. For instance I bought a moldy house and trusted the guy when he said "there is no mold in there" despite a report saying "possible mold". How dumb was I. Those numbers seem fair for that market but I am not an expert in DFW and that's why I don't invest there. Just not enough meat on the bone for me in that market. But you may see some appreciation. I almost bought a home in a flood zone and after talking to others learned this is a mistake because of the flood insurance. And I have been told it's only going to get worse as the insurance will increase. That said I have added it to my criteria list "no flood zones". I also added to my list "no bilevels" as they are prone to mold in some markets. As mentioned earlier it would be a good idea to develop your own spreadsheet to analyze properties. I suck with spreadsheet got an investor friend of mine to share his spreadsheet with me. It's Awsome! I have developed criterias, checklists, resources, ect to help others. I am still pretty new to the game but perhaps it might help you. PM me if you would like to see them. . I'm

William Allen do you or anyone out there know the specific rules/guidelines for cash out refinancing. Things like seasoning? Credit scores and stuff like that?

Landon Wadley I am an ICU nurse in San Jose who ironically just started investing in Birmingham last May. In also invest in Indianapolis. Let me know if I can help.